A Candid Confession

20:17

I think this post has been brewing for a little while and only now am I ready to share it with you all.

I am a full time stay at home mum to an almost 8 month old baby. I love my baby girl more than words can describe and I am extremely lucky to be able to spend my time bringing her up and watching her progress on a daily basis.

But you would be surprised how monotonous being a full time parent is. A lot of the time I am bored out of my mind listening to the same noisy toys, singing the same songs and doing the same thing over and over each day.

Combine that with feeling guilty about feeling this way, struggling with losing my identity and days filled with sleep deprivation and I often find myself feeling sorry for myself and worrying unnecessarily.

One of the the main worries I have been struggling with recently is that if I am bored on a daily basis then maybe she is as well. Maybe I am not doing enough to stimulate her and teach her and, in turn, maybe I am not doing my very best by her. This results in me spending my spare time researching things that I should and could be doing with her on a day to day basis, when really I should be spending the time relaxing and taking some "me" time.

Now please don't consider this as just a moaning post - although it is nice to get it off my chest. Instead it is meant to be a post that reflects some of the realities of being a stay at home mum and lets mums that they are not the only one who feels this way.

I think one of the most important things that all parents, stay at home or not, should know and keep in mind is that it is perfectly normal to feel these things and that parental guilt is wonderful for making you worry about whether you are doing your very best for your little one. Trust me, if you research this you will find hundreds of other blog posts out there that are very similar to this one, written by parents who are struggling to come to terms with their new lifestyle or who simply wanted to share their experiences.

I recently read a blog post over on The Guilt Free Guide blog which spoke about being honest about your experience as a parent, and it really inspired me to share more of my experience of motherhood here on the blog. After all, if parents can't stick together and help each other through times like these, then what can we do?!

Have you experienced anything similar this during your journey through parenthood? If so, how did you deal with it?